


once and for all (#JOHNTOBER_day19)

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Fluff, JOHNTOBER, M/M, rating and tags may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-11-09 00:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 13,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20844854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: a drabble collection for #JOHNTOBER 2019#19: coming home127 fights each other on who should stay the night in Johnny's house in Chicago.





	1. party pooper (confetti)

**Author's Note:**

> an attempt on #JOHNTOBER 2019 for the sake of my creativity (or lack thereof)

Everything is ready. Taeyong’s favorite green tea cake from the coffee shop where they first met, Taeyong’s name spelled in glitters on a hanging banner, and Taeyong’s five year old screaming the happy birthday song at the top of his lungs.

“Hyuckie,” Johnny smiles at the overly-excited kid and tries to get his attention. “There’s a special mission for you.”

“A mission!” It was effective, Donghyuck turns around so fast and stops singing as he scrambles to his feet, running towards Johnny.

“Yup! A mission.” Johnny reaches for the party popper resting on the coffee table and hands it in front of Donghyuck, only to draw it back when the kid does the adorable grabby hands.

“Gimme gimme!” Patience is not a five year old kid’s best trait, so Johnny takes his seat on the sofa and pulls Donghyuck into his lap so that they could talk face to face, determined to execute the mission perfectly.

“Hyuckie, listen properly.” Johnny’s serious but warm tone ends Donghyck’s whining, but the pout and scrunched nose is still there on the adorable face. 

Donghyuck draws out a long "okay" and Johnny feels warmth on his chest with how his baby boy is so obedient to his parents, despite being rowdy most of the times. 

"Any time now, Taeyong-appa is gonna come home and I am going to entrust you this," Johnny gives the party popper to Donghyuck's hands. "When he gets here, we're going to twist this party popper and surprise Appa with so much confetti."

"Confetti?" Donghyuck parrots.

"Yes! Colorful and shiny confetti." Donghyuck thrums in excitement with Johnny's description. "So you have to be ready, okay?"

"Okay!" 

After a few minutes, a familiar sound of their family car rumbles outside their home. Johnny and Donghyuck goes into their positions, a few meters away from where Taeyong will take his entrance. Donghyuck is in front, holding the party popper and Johnny is behind him, holding Donghyuck's hands so that he can guide him on using the popper. 

A few seconds after they hear the garage door shut, Taeyong shouts a loud "I'm here!" before he opens the door. 

"Here it goes," Johnny crouches down and whispers to Donghyuck's ears. Donghyuck giggles, honestly more excited for the confetti than his Appa coming through the door.

"Happy birthday, Taeyong-appa!" Taeyong hears before he sees them. He opens the door wider and see his husband crouched down behind his son, both smiling widely. 

There's warmth in Taeyong's chest and he swears he can literally feel the love filling up his heart. He could cry right at this moment, but then there's this loud popping sound that startles him out of his moment.

The confetti scatters in the air like tiny colored shooting stars falling from the sky, blurry in his vision because of the tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. But it doesn't, because Donghyuck beats him to it.

Donghyuck is wailing and fat tears are streaming down his face. Johnny looks worried and confused, but he hugs Donghyuck nonetheless.

"Baby what happened?" Taeyong comes close to the duo and crouches down to match the height of his little kid. Donghyuck cries some more, and both Johnny and Taeyong keeps patting his head and back to calm him down.

"I was so scared!" Donghyuck shouts but his voice is still trembling.

"Scared of what, baby?" Johnny asks him.

"The party pooper!" Johnny just realized that Donghyuck isn't hurt, but is only shocked with the loud sound of the party popper. He's a little guilty because he did not orient the kid with the deceitful device properly and his child could probably have developed a trauma with confetti, but he sees Taeyong snicker quietly.

"The party pooper?" Johnny repeats, a guilty smile on his face. "Did the party pooper shocked you?"

"Yes," Donghyuck says quietly, as his cries have now turned into sniffles.

"It's okay, baby." Taeyong speaks, and Donghyuck separates from Johnny to hug Taeyong. "I'm here now."

"I'm sorry for crying on your birthday, Appa." Donghyuck whispers to Taeyong's neck apologetically. Johnny joins the group hug and Taeyong practically feels his heart melting at this point.

"I know that you hate it when the house is messy and Donghyuck gets a little too loud so love, please forgive me for trashing the house with confetti and making Hyuckie cry—" Taeyong cuts off Johnny's nervous rambling with a quick kiss on his lips. It could've been longer but they still have Donghyuck in their middle. 

"Stop apologizing when you two made all of this," Taeyong eyes their living room with great appreciation for the preparation his little family did for him.

"Did we do a good job?" Johnny asks and suddenly, two pairs of wide eyes are expectantly waiting for Taeyong's answer.

"Well, all I can say is," Taeyong smiles overwhelmingly. "I have two of the best boys in the world."


	2. acrylics on denim (starry night)

"I really don't understand why we have to walk by the Fine Arts building instead of just taking the Humanities route," Mark complains to Johnny and Jaehyun, his seniors in the Seoul National University's basketball team who happens to live in the same dormitory as him. They just finished a few rounds of workout training in preparation for the inter-university championships taking place early next year. "Isn't this way a longer route?

"Exercise," Johnny answers him, but Mark also notices how his face is kind of bashful with some pink dusting his cheeks. Meanwhile, Jaehyun laughs loudly at the response, and it's now obvious that exercise was never the reason for the longer route walk they've been doing ever since the start of the semester.

"You're the lamest!" Jaehyun exclaims, slapping Johnny's back which earned them a pained shriek. "Exercise? Really, Johnny?"

"Shut up, Jung." Johnny is pissed, but the cute kind of pissed with his cheeks becoming redder than before and a little pout forming in his lips.

"I don't understand, let me join the fun too." Mark huffs.

Johnny stays quiet, walks a little slower, eyes looking far ahead like he's looking for something. They're in front of the Fine Arts building, and the only clue Mark has gotten is that the prettiest building in the university might be the subject of Johnny's interest.

"It's really nothing, Johnny is just crushing on an art student." Jaehyun says quietly, although he's not trying to conceal from Johnny that he's spreading his secret because Mark's pretty sure Johnny could hear him. Jaehyun turns to speak to Johnny. "Is he there?"

Johnny spends a few more seconds scanning the hallway in front of the building before answering Jaehyun. "No luck. Four days consecutive."

-

"Stop stalking and just go straight to his dm's," Jaehyun teases Johnny as soon as he sees him scroll through Taeyong's twitter just before the start of their warm-ups.

"It's not stalking," Johnny rolls his eyes. "I'm just appreciating the art he’s making."

“The  _ art  _ art or _ his beautiful face _ art?” Jaehyun laughs at his own teasing and Johnny rolls his eyes again. He would probably say “both”, but he doesn’t want to give his friend the satisfaction, so he goes back to scrolling on his feed. 

Just then, a tweet catches Johnny’s attention. 

“Hey, Taeyong is planning to open commissions.” Johnny informs Jaehyun.

“And?” Jaehyun smirks. “Are you going to help him pay his bills?”

“Well, I’m just saying this could be a good way to get close?” Johnny looks unsure, and Jaehyun regrets the teasing just a little bit.

Mark enters the conversation he’s overhearing since a while ago. “I think that’s a good idea. You could get the chance to talk to him while supporting his art.”

“Yeah dude, I’m just messing with you.” Jaehyun smiles at Johnny, a sincere one. “Go get your man!”

Johnny considers the plan as he pressed the retweet button.

-

Johnny was just about to fall asleep, but he receives a message from Jaehyun that might have woken him up and made him anxious at the same time.

**Jaehyun [12:01 AM]**

Don’t ask me how I knew this

But Taeyong’s gonna be at the same conference we’re going to tomorrow

At the Lotte Int’l Hall

**Johnny [12:02 AM] **

👀

**Jaehyun [12:02 AM]**

Ask him about the commission thing already you coward

**Johnny [12:03 AM]**

I HATE YOU

AND HIS COMMISSIONS AREN’T OPEN YET

**Jaehyun [12:03 AM]**

Come on dude, we never see him at the FA building anymore

**Johnny [12:03 AM]**

I COULD JUST DM HIM JAEHYUN

**Jaehyun [12:04 AM]**

Listen to me Suh

The goal is to commission AND TALK to him

And what if he declines you on dm because technically the commissions aren’t open?

We can’t risk you making a fool of yourself more than twice

**Johnny [12:11 AM]**

UGH

FINE

**Jaehyun [12:11 AM]**

That’s my Johnny

-

“Which is Taeyong?” Mark asks the two boys staring intently at a bunch of college students wearing some tacky College of Fine Arts shirts. But they’re in Fine Arts so they make it work with there own unique fashion choices.

“The one with the Kanken bag,” Jaehyun answers.

“There’s like 10 of them wearing the same bag.”

“The prettiest one with the Kanken,” Johnny supplies and Jaehyun groans.

“Yep, still not clear.”

“The one with the silver mullet hair, black leather pants and combat boots.” Jaehyun says before Johnny could talk about any positive adjective he could think of.

Mark lets out a long and teasing “oh” as he nudges on Johnny’s right shoulder.

“Come on big boy,” Jaehyun faces Johnny and pats his shoulders. “Go get your man.”

Johnny sighs deeply, and his overdramatic ass swears he’s never felt this way before even in his championships. He walks towards Taeyong who is peacefully typing something on his phone. There is a distance between him and the rest of his art student friends, and so he convinces himself that this should be easy.

“Hi,” Johnny speaks loud enough for Taeyong to pay attention to him, and not too loud to embarrass himself. A good start, he gives himself credit for that.

“Hi.” Taeyong is a little stunned, doe eyes staring at the tall guy’s face. He might be lucky today, since he knows exactly who that tall guy is.

“I’m sorry for approaching randomly, but I’m Johnny,” Johnny smiles wide and he really hopes that he doesn’t come off as creepy.

“Yeah, I know you Johnny.” Taeyong replies with a polite and fond smile. Johnny, on the other hand, can feel the nervousness creeping in him knowing for a fact that Taeyong knows who he is. His mind briefly flashbacks on the time they would walk in front the Fine Arts building and Taeyong catching him every time, tagging him as a stalker. “You’re in the basketball team, right? Suh?”

“Yes, that’s me,” Johnny sighs in relief. “I’m that Suh.”

“And you always retweet my art.” Johnny can't even fathom the fact that Taeyong knows about him retweeting all his art stuff. Well, there's a lot of people on Twitter engaging with his art. Well, Taeyong follows him back on Twitter, but he thinks it's only because he's a part of the basketball team. They never had any interactions except for Johnny retweeting Taeyong's tweets.

"That's right too," Johnny throws a shy smile at the acknowledgment. "I'm a fan, actually."

"Really?" Taeyong speaks in a higher tone that it almost startled Johnny. "Oh my god, I'm embarrassed but thank you!"

Johnny would like to talk more about Taeyong's art style and the way he uses his colors differently on canvas and on digital but the time will not allow him. A few more minutes and everybody will be back in the hall from the lunch break.

"That's actually the reason I came to you. Is it okay if I could ask for a commissioned work?" It's straightforward, and Johnny just silently prays for Taeyong to accept his proposition. "I know that you're technically still planning for the commission, but when I saw your tweet I just—"

"Sure!" Taeyong is enthusiastic, and Johnny swears he'd give Taeyong more commissions if it makes him happy. "Do you have ideas on what you want?"

"I saw you painted your jeans with Van Gogh, perhaps you could do that to this denim jacket too?" Johnny gestures at the denim jacket he's wearing, then takes it off, much to Taeyong's surprise. He shows him the back part of the denim jacket, wide and faded in color.

"Starry night? I can definitely do that for you." Taeyong takes the jacket from Johnny's hands.

"Thank you,Taeyong." Johnny is much colder now without the jacket hugging his body, but it doesn't show. He's warm with excitement for the transformation of his denim, as well as being able to talk to his crush.

"Johnny?"

"Yes?"

"It could get a little pricey," Taeyong smiles and Johnny is sure there is intent with how Taeyong curls his lips into a grin.

"I'm kind of rich so," Taeyong gasps and laughs loudly at Johnny's sudden boast. Johnny laughs at his ridiculousness, "It shouldn't be a problem."

"If you say so."

-

A week later, Johnny receives a direct message from Taeyong about the finished commission. They meet the day after, and Johnny brings his ATM card with him. Just to be ready.

"This is all good, I already washed it for you to wear," Taeyong gives Johnny the denim jacket which is now painted with darker blue and yellow pigments.

"Oh, you didn't have to," Johnny takes a look at the painting at the back, and he's just amazed at how Taeyong made the Starry Night so mesmerising on a piece of fabric. "This is really beautiful."

"Thank you, Johnny."

"Right! The payment!" Johnny reaches for his wallet perched in his pocket.

"You don't really have to pay," Taeyong says quietly and Johnny is just confused.

"There's no way I will not pay for this, Taeyong."

Taeyong smiles reassuringly. "I decided to postpone the whole commission thing because I could never make time for it. Just treat that as a gift from your favorite internet artist."

"You told me that it's going to be pricey." Johnny just can't accept that he's receiving a free commission. And he's kinda mad too, because Taeyong should know better not to give away free stuff made with his hard work.

"Well…" Taeyong trails off, hesitant eyes not looking at Johnny. But then he says quietly, "You can treat me with some dinner." 

"What?"

They look at each other, eyes searching each other's faces and while Taeyong finds amusement in Johnny's smirk, Johnny finds shyness blushing pink in Taeyong's cheek.

"I will not repeat that again." Johnny's laugh is booming, and Taeyong rolls his eyes.

"Here's what's going to happen, Taeyong," Johnny lifts Taeyong's left hand in his right. "You are going to give me a price for the commission and I'll pay you, and I'm also going to take you out tomorrow for dinner."

"That sounds nice too," Taeyong intertwines their fingers completely. " But I told you, it's gonna be pricey."

-

They go out for dinner the next day, both wearing the Starry Night-painted denim they own like they're aiming for a couple look. They are, as a matter of fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed this one a lot lol


	3. luck is a feeling (clover)

The thing is, Johnny has a tendency of leaning towards the bad luck's side. The probability of winning a game of rock, paper, scissors is one out of three, but he always felt like it's lower than that. Don't even mention winning raffle tickets or scoring a bingo, he never had the luxury of winning those. (His mother told him once to never invest in the stock market. She has a point.)

That's why he feels a lot different today. It's like something in the universe shifts a little bit, because he finally had a winning streak in the game of rock, paper, scissors against Jaehyun, succeeding for three consecutive times. This has never happened before!

Or maybe it's the laminated four-leaf clover he picked up in the lecture hall today. He didn't know whom it belongs to because he picked it up when almost all of the students was gone after the lecture. He tells himself to keep it, and test the myth of four-leaf clovers.

Johnny's head is in the clouds for a week. He was lucky in so many little ways. He won the bet on whether Kun and Ten were dating, he got Mark to treat him to dinner for three days with playing rock, paper, scissors (this might his favorite game from now on), and aced his final paper in Literature (this was more on his intellect, but it feels lucky, so he thinks it's the clover's fault.)

It was fun while it lasted. A week has passed, and he decides that he should probably give it back to whomever owns it. He's sitting in the lecture hall, same seat where he picked up the clover. He taps the guy in front of him, a familiar face but he never had a chance to know the name. 

"Hey," Johnny smiles politely while the guy (who is cute, his mind supplies) turns around in his seat. "Do you perhaps know who owns this?"

The guy's face shows recognition in the thing he's holding, and he lets out a surprised gasp. "This is mine! Where did you find this?"

"I picked it up in here after the lecture last week," Johnny felt lucky once again, for choosing the right person to approach in his first try and on top of that, he's really pretty. "I'm Johnny."

"I'm Taeyong," The pretty guy, Taeyong replies with a smile and Johnny gives the laminate to him. "I was looking for this everywhere."

"Is that your lucky charm?" Johnny asks him, genuinely curious.

"That's what they say about four-leaf clovers, but it really wasn't about that. This was a gift from my mom back when I started college and moved out from home." Johnny feels kind of good with Taeyong being comfortable with him and talking about the story of his clover. 

It was from their own garden, and for more than 10 years of Taeyong's mom tending it, it was the first time she sees a four-leafed one. Taeyong also tells him that he never believed in luck of four-leaf clovers and people are just conditioned to feel lucky because that's what they hear from other people. Johnny laughs loudly at that, but he also tells him about his own shenanigans for the past week of being at his luckiest. Taeyong giggles at his story, especially the one where he guessed about Kun and Ten's relationship.

The professor for their class finally shows up, prompting everyone to pay attention to the front. It halted their conversation, but Taeyong turns around once again.

"Do you perhaps have time later for coffee? I want to thank you for returning the clover."

Johnny feels lucky once again, even without the four leaf clover in his possession.


	4. fever dream (wanderer)

Johnny bonds with his members through their shared interests in different ways. He cooks and prepares meals alongside Doyoung, he goes shopping with Taeyong, he listens and shares music with Jaehyun, he eats with Donghyuck, he cracks jokes with Mark, and so on.

However, one of his favorite things to do is something that he shares with Yuta. It’s hiking, and it’s not something they do very often so that makes it more special. Another thing that they share, although they love trekking and appreciating nature, is that they have no sense of direction.

Which leads them in the middle of the hiking trail, unsure of which path to take or if they will be able to come down. They are lost.

Just a few minutes ago, they were bragging about being able to go to the top of the trail without the use of maps, confident because they got phones and their staff trailing along with them. Now it’s just the two of them alone, phones with no signal and no staff in sight, only the vlogging camera Johnny is holding.

“So it seems like we’re lost,” Johnny narrates in front of the camera and Yuta laughs at him and their shared idiocracy. “Yay!”

“I bet the staff are just pulling some kind of prank on us,” Yuta says and talks to the camera. “We’re not that dumb!”

“The moment we find you guys, we’re telling Lee Sooman.” Johnny jokingly threatens. They joke around some more, talk to the camera, yell things like “Help!” or “Mark!”, and just laughs all the time. They don’t feel worried because they know they got each other.

The sky is turning a bit darker now, sun completely hidden behind the clouds and they feel exhaustion creeping up their leg muscles. They pass by a spring and drink fresh water from it, relieving the thirst they had since the last time they drank. They sit by the rocks to relax their muscles a bit. 

While Yuta screams at the open faucet for the sudden force of water, Johnny sees something in his peripheral vision. “Do you see that, Yuta?”

Yuta turns arounds and shifts his eyes to where Johnny is pointing. They see a large tiger with bright yellow eyes staring back at them. The tiger then turns around and walks away slowly on the woodier part of the trail.

Johnny and Yuta stare at each other for a few seconds.

“Don’t tell me you want to follow the tiger?” Johnny asks Yuta in an accusing tone.

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to go.” Yuta replies. The thing is, if Johnny is with Doyoung or Jungwoo, he’d never speak about this bizarre idea of following a big feline that could likely get them slaughtered. But he’s with Yuta.

“Okay, let’s go.” They both stand up, energy refilled from the brief rest and starts walking towards the tiger.

“The camera, Johnny.” Yuta reminds him. “At least there’s gonna be evidence if we end up getting killed.”

It’s weird, but they both find themselves laughing at the worst decision they could be making in their entire existence. Maybe it’s the feeling that they know they got each other, because it feels just like another adventure (and to be honest, they don’t get much experience on that.)

“We’re so brave, Yuta.” Johnny lets out a laugh one more time and looks at Yuta. “We’re the perfect wanderers.”

“Wanderers,” Yuta repeats the english word with his thick Japanese accent, and they laugh again.

The tiger walks slowly, as if it’s waiting for Johnny and Yuta to catch up on walking. The two keeps a safe distance though, not wanting to risk anything (as if this isn’t a risk already.) They finally get to the end of the path, tall trees standing upright and a large stone that might be a cave as well.

The tiger turns around to look at them. It really is big, almost the height of Johnny’s shoulder as it stands on four feet. Johnny and Yuta stops too.

“What now?” Yuta whispers, barely catching Johnny’s ears. The tiger however, slowly walks forward, towards them. The duo mirrors the slow walk, except they’re walking backwards.

“I don’t know, Yuta.” Johnny clutches the camera in his hand, lens still focusing on the big creature in front of them. 

The tiger opens his mouth and loudly snarls at them. It walks towards them, constantly slow and suspenseful. Both Johnny and Yuta can feel the hairs at the back of their necks rise in fright. They remain quiet, and it’s not like they can talk for their mouths are dry.

Suddenly, all the fun and adventure they had earlier on the hike feels like a fever dream. 

What happened next is something that Johnny is sure, only happens during a fever dream. The tiger snarls again, a weaker one that it’s almost cute. The tiger sits down on the grass, stretches it’s limbs, and then morphs into something that looks a lot like a human body.

Yuta passes out in Johnny’s arms, camera falling to the ground. He taps Yuta’s left cheek slightly in an attempt to wake him up, to no avail. Johnny looks up to the human looming over him.

“M-Mark?” Johnny croaks the name out barely like a whisper because his mouth is so dry.

“You called for me guys?” Mark says, exactly like how Mark would say it.

Johnny’s vision turns black.


	5. catch you a bullet (desire)

Detective Lee from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Johnny thinks he’s a good detective, even better when they solve a case together. However, they don’t quite fit the puzzle that is partners who have a good relationship with one another.

He’s quick-witted, empathetic, and very professional; all traits combined, and he’s the best in his field. But he is also a cold, frigid, and savage perfectionist; all of these traits combined are the reasons Johnny can’t get what he wants.

“Detective,” Johnny follows Taeyong like a puppy in an active crime scene, full of police in uniforms and lab personnel. “Why won’t you have sex with me?”

Their relationship works like this: Taeyong is always serious with running necessary protocols during an investigation, and Johnny would either be smoking pot evidence, make fun of the murdered victim, or do his own investigation while breaking all protocols at once.

Taeyong abruptly stops in his tracks, and it seems like he’s not the only one who is shocked. People around them give judging looks, but Johnny, the Lucifer descendant (he said it himself) doesn’t falter. Taeyong grabs his left arm forcefully that Johnny lets out a malicious little “ooh” and leads him to the garden, where there are less people running around. 

“Why are you like that?” Taeyong wants to ask him so many questions.  _ Why is Johnny such a menace, why is he so full of himself, why does he never take anything seriously _ , and so much more that it only boils into that.

“Oh trust me detective, it may seem like it but I am not perfect—” Johnny is cut off by Taeyong’s irritated grunt and an eye roll, a combo that means he should really tone down the talking or else he might be put off from the case. He knows that by now after working with him for almost a year. Taeyong has to endure Johnny’s narcissistic antics because apparently he can coax out people's truth and dirty inclinations. In return, Johnny has to respect, or even just try to respect Taeyong's work ethic.

"Why," Taeyong emphasizes on the word. "Why would you even ask about having sex with with me?"

"Why, to assert dominance on our partnership, Detective." Johnny answers so smoothly that Taeyong huffs out an incredulous laugh, more air than sound.

Taeyong have known Johnny for almost a year, and it feels like he doesn't know anything about him. He always hears Johnny speak in metaphors, almost always referring to himself as a fallen angel. He has so many questions that he knows will never be answered or at least he will never understand, but he asks anyways. "Why?"

"You see Detective, I have the power to draw out people's forbidden desires." Right. Johnny can hypnotize people into telling a secret or the truth, but Taeyong never believes because it has never happened to him. "And it doesn't work for you, because you have some sort of power over me."

Taeyong finds himself nodding and trying to understand what he's saying. He has always done it, but Taeyong can never decipher the figurative language he's speaking.

"Now, I need to have sex with you, so I can get rid of your power over me.” Johnny says it with no hesitation, like he’s talking about the weather. Like he did not just offer Taeyong his body in an active crime scene.

“Who told you that I hold some sort of power over you?”

“My therapist, Dr. Qian.”

Taeyong has a hunch. Johnny wants to have sex with him because he’s pretty sure he’s the only one who haven’t. Taeyong think’s it’s not impossible for a high-end bar owner in Seoul to always have a person (or people) in his bed, what he doesn’t understand is how come nobody has ever rejected him. 

Johnny is handsome, charismatic, and has a really sexy physique and mind, Taeyong acknowledges that. He also acts and says things like he knows your dirtiest secrets, naughtiest kinks, and what you really thirst for. But there has to be someone who rejected those advances, right?

“Did you have sex with your therapist, too?” 

“Well yes, but the point here is to have sex with you.”

Unfortunately, it seems like Taeyong is that only one.

“Okay,” Taeyong figures out that the only way to understand Johnny is to speak his language. “Like what you do to everyone, ask me the question.”

“My pleasure, Detective.” Johnny smirks and looks straight on Taeyong’s eyes, It’s sharp and alluring, how the two pools of honey shifts into something darker. “Tell me darling, what is it that you desire?”

Taeyong thinks about Johnny.

Johnny and his several sexual partners on a weekly basis, his large alcohol consumption, his penchant for disobeying protocols, and how they can never agree on one thing.

As Taeyong keeps his eyes on Johnny’s, his mind goes blank. From Johnny’s eyes, he shifts his vision towards his thick lips, and he remembers how much he wanted to kiss the hell out of him to get him to shut up. He also remembers the first time they met, at Johnny’s club where they had the most amusing interrogation in Taeyong’s whole career. And then it shifts to a traumatic memory. A dangerous crossfire, where the criminal went berserk after finding out that his mother died of a heart attack while he was hiding from the authorities. He was holding a gun, aims at Taeyong’s chest and fires. The next thing he knew, the pressure of Johnny’s weight over his body is suffocating him. Johnny took the bullet for Taeyong.

(“I’m immortal, remember?” Johnny smiles at Taeyong who is in tears, and then he is coughing up blood. Taeyong cries some more.)

“N-no,” Taeyong huffs out as he fights the urges in his clouded mind. He remembers where he is, at a crime scene, but he’s wasting his time talking to this demon. “What am I doing?”

“It never works with you,” Johnny smiles at him, face full of fondness. He lifts his hand to comb the strands of Taeyong’s hair almost covering his eyes and goes lower to stroke his cheek. “Are you okay?”

“I— yes.” Taeyong holds the hand caressing his face and puts it down, but still not letting it go. “The truth is, I don’t want to ruin everything that we have. We worked hard in this relationship and it would be such a waste if our relationship will go down to flames because we had sex.”

“Is that what you truly desire?”

“Yes, that is what I truly desire.” They both laugh at themselves. Taeyong feels relief in his chest, but there is still something missing in there that he doesn’t want to admit. At least yet.

“Well Detective, if you ever change your mind...” Johnny wiggles his eyebrows and Taeyong shakes his head in disbelief.

“Let’s just get back to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Johnny as Lucifer Morningstar everyone


	6. i sense you in (crimson)

Taeyong feels crimson in Johnny.

Through the faint moonlight seeping in their half-closed blinds, he sees dark red in the sheets. Droplets, not too many because it would be a waste of sustenance and both of them would not allow it. By now it is hardened in the white cloth, crisp by the air and the passing of time since Johnny has fed.

Taeyong feels a twinge in the exposed flesh on the side of his neck, a healing open wound. It hurted in their first time. Now it feels just as a wound under his jaw would feel, but deeper and important. There’s life flowing out of it and his love makes him bare his neck, consenting and vulnerable. 

He feels arms wrap around his waist, getting tighter but never suffocating, strong and never once numb. It is a gesture of thanks from earlier, like a favor returned. A favor his lover doesn’t need to return, but he does because he’s thankful and willing and in love.

He feels Johnny stir in his sleep, actually awakened. He pulls Taeyong closer in the embrace, face nuzzling under his jaw right where he took his fill. Taeyong smells so alluring and delectable and his senses are going into overdrive. He buries his neck deeper like he didn’t just fed earlier. Johnny hungers for Taeyong's blood, his body and his smile. Taeyong fulfills him, because he’s thankful and willing and in love.

Johnny sees crimson in Taeyong.

He sees bruises in Taeyong's skin, both purples and fresh reds from earlier. The discoloration looks like galaxies and stardust in Taeyong's tan. It is scattered, painting his jawline, neck, and chest, and probably also his abdomen and thighs. He must have been so overwhelmed earlier, but he knows Taeyong likes it and coaxes him into doing it.

Johnny sees red in Taeyong's lips, fresh blood from a little cut on his bottom lip. He places a hand on Taeyong's jaw, pulls his face, and meets him halfway to lick his lips. He tastes of sweet wine with a heavy feel in his mouth. 

Taeyong brings his hand to the hair on the back of Johnny's head, caresses the silky strands between his fingers, before pulling Johnny into a full kiss. 

Johnny accepts him whole, warm and wet lips pressing against the other before Taeyong opens his mouth for his lover. They kiss deep and unhurried because they have all the time in the world. Johnny hears Taeyong's heart in his chest, relaxed and steady. His hand roams in his skin and settles into the low of Taeyong's back. They have kissed each other so many times, movements familiar but never tiring.

Johnny pulls away first to kiss the entirety of Taeyong's face. Taeyong smiles at the gesture and Johnny kisses it too. 

They kiss some more until they drift back to sleep.


	7. the universe gave me (sparkling)

“That ring is freaking ugly.” Taeyong spits out as soon as Johnny opened the ring box. He grabs it out of Johnny’s hand to bring it closer to his face, inspecting it further. “Who made this?”

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Johnny sips on his iced americano, not really paying attention to the ring. To his defense, it was his mother who bought it. He’s then told to bring Taeyong home for dinner with the ring in his hand and he really has no choice but to obey.

“There’s diamonds surrounding the center stone, plus the accent stones around the ring.” Taeyong says. It was over the top, like you can hear it scream _ “’m getting married in Queensland next year!”, _that kind of ring. “It’s sparkling, Johnny. Sparkling.”

Taeyong doesn’t like the kinds of things that begs for attention. Johnny would’ve picked a snake ring for his best friend in the fond memory of him wanting to be a Slytherin, only to be sorted into Hufflepuff for the 28th time taking the Sorting Hat quiz. At least they could’ve gotten a good laugh and Taeyong would like it better. But it’s a real engagement ring, and they’re really getting married.

“We could go ring shopping later if you want. But first,” Johnny takes the ring box from Taeyong’s hand and goes to place it on the table, ring presented to Taeyong properly. “Will you marry me?”

Johnny dreamt for his wedding proposal to be in Paris, filmed for the sake of memories, just as how a romanticist should be. Taeyong on the other hand, never entertained the concept of marriage, and the idea of being tied up to one person for the rest of his life terrifies him. But here they are, huddled in the corner of a university cafe, thinking whether to accept their fate in exchange of living the lifestyle they’re comfortable with or running away.

“Just like that?” Taeyong breaks the silence with the question. “Did you ever consider that I won’t pick up the ring?”

Johnny huffs out a laugh, “As if we have a choice. It’s either you wear the ring now or your mother will glue it in your finger.”

“Johnny.” Taeyong scrunches his eyebrows together and Johnny laughs at his irritated stare.

“I have taught about it,” Johnny says after his laughter had stopped. “There’s more pros than cons in this marriage. We’re not in a relationship with anybody, the merging of the companies will be successful, and I’m just really glad it’s you.”

“But you don’t love me, Johnny.” Taeyong places his hand on top of Johnny’s, because at the end of the day, all he wants is for Johnny to be happy. He doesn’t want Johnny to regret reciting vows with him when he finally finds the one he’d really want to spend his life with.

“I have loved you since we were little, Taeyong.” This is something he’d already told Taeyong multiple times in multiple occasions, only to be dismissed by the fact he’s only a best friend. Although he’d almost cry of happiness when they broke the wedding news to him, he feels extremely guilty about having Taeyong in his life as his husband when Taeyong doesn’t even want him.

The universe gave him Taeyong, so he’ll tell him and make him feel how much he loves him. Maybe Taeyong will not pick up on it immediately, but Johnny has a lot of time now.

“And who knows, after I treat you to dinner a few times, maybe you’ll fall head over heels for me.”


	8. as if i was there (underwater)

Taeyong feels the goosebumps appear in his bare arms in the cold breeze of the night. He thinks it’s kind of good that he didn’t bring one because now, he has an excuse to wrap his arms around Youngho’s middle, taking advantage of the warmth presence of his boyfriend. Youngho on the other hand, complies to his requests and slowly rubs his biceps with his big and calloused hands.

The two stayed at Taeyong’s house because his mom called to say something similar in the lines of “stop hiding your boyfriend for yourself, we miss Youngho too!” and here they are, spending the night in the outskirts of Seoul. They had a cozy dinner with the courtesy of his mom’s cooking skills. It was when they were already in bed, inside Taeyong’s childhood room, when they decided to take a walk outside.

Meeting Taeyong’s parents is Youngho’s own idea. The first time he brought him to his childhood home, he was more nervous than Youngho. Turns out, there was really nothing to be worried about because Youngho had his family smitten with his charm and sincere aura. Few months after that, they went to Chicago and had Taeyong meet his family as well. Taeyong felt so welcomed in a place he’s so unfamiliar with ( _ Youngho’s mom even kissed me! _ ) Youngho drove him to his favorite places in Chicago, namely his schools, his favorite restaurant, his favorite coffee shop, and even a record store that was so hidden, Youngho have almost forgotten where it is located. 

Taeyong leads Youngho to a place that looked like a secluded forest, but not exactly since they could still see the city lights adorning Seoul’s landscape. There’s a rocky river behind the trees with water flowing calmly, and it just brings back so many memories for Taeyong. Just like what Youngho did to him in Chicago, he’s also aching to show Youngho some parts of his life that existed when they still haven’t found each other.

“Oh wow, I missed this.” Taeyong breathes in the crisp air that smells like freshwater and leaves. He then proceeds to pull off his tank top over his head and that made Youngho frozen, eyes wide open.

“Just what do you think your doing?” Youngho’s reprimandation with his shocked expression is so funny to Taeyong. Youngho shuffles forward to get the tank top and covers Taeyong’s front.

“Why, we’re here to swim, of course.”

“We don’t even have towels.” With that, Taeyong takes a step back from Youngho and proceeds to take off his sweatpants and boxers in one go.

Youngho almost choked on his spit. His mind must’ve malfunctioned for a bit because he can’t bring himself to utter a word, too shocked to take in the sight in front of him. All he managed to say is, “You’re a menace, you know that?”

“If you won’t join me, then just guard the place.” Taeyong walks away, making sure to sway his hips a bit. 

Taeyong’s backside is so enticing under the dimmed light post, toned muscles all over his back and a curvy ass adorned with dimples. Like an enchantress in a grim fairytale luring a passerby to the waters, only for him to drown and die. 

But he reminds himself that it’s just Taeyong. His Taeyong, with curves and bones so familiar that he could feel it in his hands. His Taeyong, with a laugh so loud and eccentric in the quiet of the night that he could feel warmth bloom in his chest. His Taeyong, the man that he loves and loves him back unconditionally.

Taeyong submerges to the waters with a loud shriek. Youngho takes off his clothes and carefully folds it with Taeyong’s.

“Hey, handsome.” Taeyong calls out as Youngho stands on the riverbank, slowly feeling the temperature of the water with his feet. He kicks the water towards Taeyong’s direction, making him shriek once again.

“I still can’t believe you had me skinny dipping in Seoul.” Youngho says as soon as he’s in the water. Taeyong laughs at his boyfriend as he wraps his arms around his neck for the purpose of leverage and warmth.

“And I can’t believe you joined me,” Taeyong gives Youngho a kiss on his nose, “Thank you so much.”

Taeyong narrates some episodes of his endeavors in that river. How he never really learned how to swim because the river is so shallow, how they have spent some of his birthdays barbecuing in the riverbank, how he’s so good at diving for coins under the water, and so much more. Youngho holds Taeyong throughout, and he feels as if he was there in Taeyong’s memories.

Taeyong kisses Youngho after telling him how much he loves him.

He gets lower, littering Youngho’s neck with wet kisses and subtle bites. “I don’t really want to do it in my childhood bedroom, so should we do it here?”

Taeyong’s wicked smile will be that death of Youngho. 


	9. point and shoot (vintage)

The only thing Johnny wanted to do was to take a picture of Doyoung. Just a few points and shoots, that’s it. It never dawned on him that it’s going to go down like this.

They are in a waiting room backstage of one of the largest K-pop music festivals this year. Although it had already started, there are still many groups in queue and they still got a lot of time left. The other members are either eating, playing around, or on their phones, just the usual things they do in the waiting room with the staff.

Johnny retrieves a vintage polaroid camera from his backpack. He bought it from a vintage camera collector in the US two months ago and was finally delivered to him last week. He took in consideration of how much free time they had today, and they have so much, so he decided to bring it and test it out.

Johnny takes a picture of Taeyong and Donghyuck playing on their phones, Yuta and Taeil singing together, Jaehyun getting his hair and make up done, and Jungwoo pestering Mark like what he does on a daily basis. Some of them posed and smiled for the camera like Jaehyun, Mark, and Jungwoo, while the others just continued doing what they’re doing. They are already used to Johnny taking pictures of them, not even bothering to see what the shot looks like. (They know it’s gonna come out beautiful because even though Johnny isn’t a professional photographer, practice almost made him like one.)

Doyoung on the other hand, raised his eyebrows at Johnny and the camera.

“Is that a new camera?” Doyoung asked when Johnny was about to press the shutter release button. 

“You noticed? It’s a vintage polaroid land camera.” Johnny happily inquired. It’s the 1st model that works just perfectly fine after so many years of shooting and printing polaroids.

“You mean you bought a new camera when you have like five other film cameras?”

Johnny gets it now. Among all of the members, Doyoung isn't afraid to point out Johnny's spending endeavors. The first time Doyoung did that, he was so irritated. But Doyoung never stopped, so now it feels just like he somehow had a stepmother who cares so much about his finances.

"Cut it out Doyoung," Johnny said sternly. 

"Wow, I really don't understand why you spend so much," Doyoung is unfazed by the threat. "How much did you spend on that?"

Johnny's reply is slow. "It was a model from the 80's so…"

"Wow, that must've been so expensive," Yuta chirped in the conversation. He then noticed Johnny's "pissed off" eyes on him, so he just smiled and slowly turned his back from him. He didn't really want to get on Johnny's bad side, and he didn't understand why Doyoung kept on telling him off about his spendings.

"Is it really necessary to buy another one when you already have so many?"

"This is a real vintage thing from so many decades ago, there's so much difference compared to my other film cameras." Johnny didn't know why but he still trying to reason out with Doyoung. Doyoung told him before that while he spends so much money on material things, he always tries to come up with reasons for every purchase he had. And maybe, that's what he's doing with Doyoung right now.

"And your five other cameras doesn't give you enough variety?" 

"You won't understand," Johnny gives up. "Swear, only Ten and Taeyong understands me because unlike other people, we actually shoot photos."

Johnny heard a faint "what about me" from Jaehyun.

"True, but another reason why you understand each other is because you're all big spenders." Doyoung wore a smile that usually means his verbal attack was successful.

"Can I please just take your polaroid?" Doyoung ranted some more about the problem of spending too much but Johnny refused to listen. Instead, he takes a photo of Doyoung laughing at his spending endeavors.

Johnny uploads the scan on their instagram later.

** **

**nct127 **Doyoung, please stop bullying me. #NCT #NCT127 #DOYOUNG #JOHNTOGRAPHY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's not really a polaroid but please spare


	10. he loves me, he loves me not (flowers)

The daisy does not deserve any of this.

Johnny picks apart the petals from inside the sepal of the daisy, cruel fingers rough with the pulling. His face is somber, body slump on the park bench as he stares at the daisy lose it's petals one by one.

"He loves me, he loves me not." Johnny repeats it like a mantra, until he reaches the last petal. "He loves me not."

Johnny sighs. Jaehyun sighs beside him too.

"I mean, you can just tell him," Jaehyun feels bad for his friend, looking like a loser and all just because he can't man up and confess to his crush. It's been like this for a week, Johnny kept coming back to that new flower shop at the corner of their neighborhood because of a certain boy there. Jaehyun recalls at how Johnny falls off his bike, losing balance because of the pretty florist around the block.

"I can't, Jae." Johnny sighs once again. "I'll probably embarrass myself to him."

"Come on dude, you're like the coolest person I know." Jaehyun assures him with a tap on his shoulder.

Johnny mans up a little, and he had been spending the week buying flowers from the flower shop just to see the cute guy, aka the prettiest flower in the shop. His name is Taeyong, he was told the third time he went there. The flowers he bought from ended up on his mother's long unused vases with Johnny trying his hardest to take care of it, cutting the stems and supplying it with plant food. Taeyong doesn't ask about his everyday purchase, and if Johnny keeps this up, he'll end up broke in no time.

He'll have to do it anyways.

In Johnny's frequent visits in the flower shop, he knew three things about Taeyong. The flower shop is a family business, he has a dog named Ruby, and he'd love to go and have dinner in Johnny's house. But it wasn't a date, because Johnny told him that he's inviting him only because he's new to the neighborhood. It could've been a date, really.

But Johnny have some other plans.

Taeyong knocks at Johnny's door right on time. Punctual, totally Johnny's type. He is beautiful as always, Johnny tells him, and maybe it's the warmth in his chest that made him do it. He leads him to the dinner table, set up with all the flowers he had bought from the past week, arranged beautifully.

"I bought all these flowers because I just really want to see you and get closer to you," Johnny speaks low, heart beating loudly in his chest that he prays Taeyong doesn't hear it in the quiet of the night.

"I know," Taeyong's lips curl into a smile, which slowly turned into a smirk. "I actually saw you fall off your bike the first time I moved here."

Johnny's face turns red, composure all gone. He whines out loud that makes Taeyong's laugh resonate the whole house, just like how the flowers' scent fill the room.


	11. rescue pup (abandoned)

"Oh my god, she's adorable!" A lady at the train station gasped in amazement at the sight of Johnny holding his newly-adopted puppy. It has been a week since Johnny provided the puppy a new home, and now he wanted to bring him to a picnic with his friends for two reasons: First is for the puppy to play and run in a new and better environment, and second is so he can boast at his friends about finally being a pet parent.

"Actually, it's a he. His name is Hyuck." Johnny replied happily and allowed the lady to pet Hyuck's head. "Also, he's a rescue."

The lady was about to praise him for adopting instead of buying, but the pupper started grumbling and shifting violently in his arms that made Johnny loosen his hold on him. He caressed Hyuck's back until he calmed down.  _ Maybe he still haven't warmed up on me _ , plagued Johnny's mind.

They reached the park with no more inconvenience, and he spotted his friends fairly easy because of a little papillon he’s very familiar with. That’s Taeyong’s dog named Ruby, which is the reason why he had always wanted to own one. Hyuck grew restless in his leash at the sight of Ruby, running around Johnny’s legs in distress and excitement. Johnny detangled his legs from the leash and rushed to where the group is.

“Is that Hyuckie?” Jaehyun cooed at the sight of the brown-haired puppy running around Johnny.

“Yup! The one I rescued.” Johnny chirped and then he felt Hyuck clawing on his shoes and gnawing the bottom hem of his jeans.

Hours after the picnic was done, the day comes to an end and they prepared to sleep. Johnny is lying on his side at the edge of the bed, hands stroking Hyuck’s sleeping form on the dog bed.

“You’re still indifferent to me, huh?” Johnny smiles at the little fluff ball on the floor. “Is that how you pay me for rescuing you?”

Hyuck twitched his ears and suddenly woke up in his slumber. He looked up and stared at Johnny’s eyes, but then, something in Johnny’s vision glitched.

There’s a boy lying on the floor.

Johnny screamed and pushed himself back on the mattress, trying to get away from the intruder until he fell on the other side of the bed. He stood up as fast as he can and stared if the boy was still there,

He’s still there. 

“Who the hell are you?” Johnny shrieks in an impossibly high voice.

“I’m your Hyuck,” The boy spoke in a bored tone. “Can you stop telling everyone I’m a rescue? You sound like a white girl who’s vegan and thinks so highly of herself because he did not buy his puppy at a pet store.”

“What...”

“And I’m not a puppy. I’m a shapeshifter.” Hyuck smiled at him, a shit-eating one. “Thank you for adopting me Master, now I can freeload on a human legally with no worries.”

The “Hyuck” boy went back to being the “Hyuck” puppy and lied on his dog bed again.

Johnny almost fainted.


	12. powerpuff boys (sugar and spice)

_ Sugar! _

_ Spice! _

_ And everything nice! _

_ These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little boys! _

_ But Professor Moon accidentally added an extra ingredient in the concoction: Chemical X! _

Professor Moon hisses at the sharp pain in his backbone, and he’s pretty sure there’s some wound at the back of his head too. The impact of his failed experiment sent him flying from his lab table to the corner or the room, almost four meters away. Ouch.

His head is spinning crazy from the force of his head hitting the wall. His glasses have fallen too and he can’t see anything because of his bad eyesight and the smoky fog starting to disperse in the laboratory. There’s a bunch of broken beakers and test tubes on the floor around the table, and his head aches more as he thinks about how much it would cost to repair all this mess and refurnish the laboratory.

Professor Moon finds his glasses after squinting his eyes hard at the scattered objects around him. He puts on the glasses and there’s still smoke clouding the room, the only difference is that he can see it very clearly.

Other than that, he also sees three boys from the smoke cloud walking towards him. They strut in slow motion like the characters in Goblin, cool and handsome.

_ Thus, the powerpuff boys were born! Using their ultra superpowers, Yuta, Taeyong, and Johnny have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil! _

Professor have bills to pay and a laboratory to refurnish, and now he has three boys to feed and take care of. 

Great.

Just great.


	13. giveaways (big sweater)

Johnny is fed up.

Certain members of the group have been stealing his sweaters when autumn came around. And he’s  _ mad  _ mad because six of the sweaters he bought last month in preparation for the fall season, four of them he can’t find in his closet. It cost him almost 500 dollars for that!

He did search operations on his own closet, in the hamper, inside the washing machine, in his unpacked luggage, and even under his bed, but all his effort was to no avail. 

That night, he finds the first sweater. Johnny came back late after a solo schedule, and he finds Donghyuck wearing a white cotton sweater to sleep. It’s not even that cold and Johnny wants to wake Donghyuck up and tell him  _ that’s my clothes _ , but he’s not a devil to deny the maknae with the sweater paws some sleep. He’ll deal with his stealing roommate tomorrow morning.

The next morning, Donghyuck is out and about with the Dreamies. He hasn't got his sweater back.

He finds another two in Taeyong’s luggage. Taeyong was getting ready for SuperM’s flight to America, and he sees two of his old sweaters inside Taeyong’s luggage while he is in the process of packing for the flight.

“Are those mine?” Johnny asks first because he wasn’t so sure.

“Those are mine, I think.” Taeyong replies, busy folding some of his clothes.

“Really?” Johnny gets closer and inspects the sweater, and now he’s sure. “These are mine from two years ago!”

Johnny and Taeyong have been roommates for the longest of time, but it’s still shocking for Johnny to not know that he basically just gives his clothes away to his member without even knowing it. Taeyong likes oversized clothes so he wears Johnny’s shirts and sweaters sometimes, but he loses track of what Taeyong borrows from him.

“For real?” Taeyong laughs at Johnny’s shocked expression. “It has been in my closet for almost two years, that means you gave this to me.”

Johnny can’t even get it back now.

He finds the fourth sweater in Jaehyun. He was wearing it for their dinner, and Johnny thinks he’s brazen for wearing what he stole in front of the owner. But he can’t speak up in front of the delicious dinner and call out those who stole his sweaters without Donghyuck and Taeyong in there.

That night, he decides to discuss it in the 127 group chat.

**Johnny**

'Fess up

How many of you have my sweaters in their possession

**Taeyong**

You saw mine earlier

I mean yours

**Jaehyun**

I think this is yours that I'm wearing

**Hyuck**

Why? You angry?

**Mark**

I think I may have some in the closet

**Jungwoo**

Me too.

We're almost the same size sooo

**Doyoung**

I stole one hehe

But this is old, from when we were trainees

**Yuta**

Am I the only one who doesn't have one?

**Johnny**

WOW

HOW SHAMELESS

SO THAT'S THE REASON WHY I ONLY HAVE TWO LEFT

Johnny is speechless about the lack of shame his members have. He's not angry, but he just can't understand. They all earn money, so why are they stealing his clothes? And his size is so much bigger than all of them, why bother?

Johnny hears the door open. Yuta came in without saying a word, and heads straight to his drawer.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I didn't know you were giving away sweaters, I came in to get mine." Yuta had the audacity to smile.

"You're not even my size!"

"That's the charm of sweaters, Johnny-ya." Yuta says without sparing him a glance and continues to rummage the drawer. He's even contemplating whether he should get the black or blue one after he found the sweaters.

Johnny sighs in defeat. After Yuta left the room, he logs in on a shopping app and purchased more sweaters. 

For him, he begs this time.


	14. cute library affair (silence)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> took a little break bc of acads and sulli's passing (i was so sad and affected), but hopefully i can finally catch up.

There's the sound of rustling of papers, mechanical breeze from the air conditioner, and hushed voices from a very few people in the library. The atmosphere isn't lively, but more like barely. Johnny looks like he's trying, too.

Taeyong cocks his head to where Johnny is from time to time. For more than a week now, he had seen his crush eat, nap, and practically live on that particular booth of the library not too far from the front desk. 

It's amazing and worrying at the same time, how Johnny manages his academics and him being the vice-president of the university's creative media arts club. That's how and where Taeyong came to like him, as he was once a member during their freshman year but then decided that his skills and passion are geared more towards dancing. Fast forward to senior year, they’re still friends, occasionally bumping into each other on events where Taeyong’s club would perform and Johnny’s club would cover.

Taeyong has never been more glad in his library assistant job after Johnny started coming to study and camp out. He had accepted the job because he’s close with the professors in charge, provides him a workspace for his academics, and he finished early with the dance recitals. Johnny, his happy crush for almost four years who came to the library to hit the books, is a well-deserved bonus.

At times, Johnny would come and lean over the front desk to chat with Taeyong in a hushed voice, careful not to ruin the silence of the large room. Taeyong would also take the courage to walk by his booth just to check up on how he’s doing. Sometimes they would exchange small talk, other times he would wake Johnny up if he’s been napping for more than an hour (as per Johnny’s favor, but Taeyong is content with letting him sleep even if his huge body looked uncomfortable). 

Taeyong’s head looks up from his readings to Johnny’s approaching figure. He stands up to meet him with a smile that may look too eager in his tired face. Johnny mirrors the gesture and reaches the front desk, placing a sociology book and a novel titled Foe on the surface.

“These are the ones you borrowed last week,” Taeyong says as he inspects the books. “Finally done?”

“Yup! Finally.” Johnny exclaims in a quiet voice, eyes crinkling in enthusiasm. 

“Finally, after a week.” Taeyong laughs as he works with the library computer. Johnny returning the books might be a symbolism for the end of their brief and cute library affair, but Taeyong is just glad that Johnny could finally rest in the comfort of his own bed. “I’m proud of you.”

Johnny speaks a hushed “oh, thank you” with a sheepish smile and pink dusting his cheeks and neck, but Taeyong doesn’t see because he’s busy with the library archive. As soon as Taeyong is done, he replies with a “you’re welcome” and proceeds to walk towards the shelves to return the books back.

But before he could step out his desk, Johnny calls out his name, loud enough to startle those who are near them and for him to be kicked out the library. He mouths an apology to the disturbed and confused students and turns to Taeyong while he’s embarrassed and all red.

“I could’ve used the self-service machines but,” Johnny rubs the back of his neck, which Taeyong finds so adorable. “I was wondering if I could treat you to dinner after your shift?”

Dinner? With Johnny Suh? Anyone who turns down this offer is an ungrateful human being. 

“Just a little thanks for looking out on me while I was camping out here.” Taeyong mirrors Johnny’s smile, but he feels a little pang of disappointment knowing that this is just a dinner to repay a favor. Oh well. It’s still dinner with Johnny Suh, and he won’t let this dumb emotions ruin his only chance.

“I’d love to. Although you don’t really need to do this, it's part of my job.”

“I insist,” Johnny smiles with assurance. “I’ll go back to my dorm first, and I’ll wait here at the end of your shift, if that sounds good to you.”

Taeyong immediately agrees, which sends Johnny back to his booth to collect his belongings.

Johnny approaches the front desk once again with his backpack in tow. He leans towards Taeyong’s table while Taeyong scoots up to meet him halfway, Johnny’s mouth close to his ears.

“It’s a date.”


	15. favorite phase (moon)

Taeil considers the full moon his most favorite phase.

For once a month, he could escape the exhaustion and pressures of the city and briefly breathe fresh air in the mountains. As for Johnny, his pet wolf, it’s when and where he could be himself the most.

Every full moon, Taeil and Johnny would go out to the mountains to set a tent and camp. Johnny needs it, to run around and be his own wolf without the restrictions of their penthouse apartment, and Taeil gladly complies. He loves the full moon, and he loves seeing Johnny go feral over the flowing streams and bundled leaves on the forest floor. Their little camping time lasts only for two to three days depending on Johnny’s shifting, but it’s worth it for the both of them.

Sometimes, Taeil and Johnny would trek along the mountain trails. Other times, Taeil would pick up his guitar and try writing a few song verses while he’s at it, inspired and motivated. He would cook his own meals while feeding Johnny loads of meat, sleep in the hot breeze of the noon or the coldness of the night. Johnny stays outside while guarding his owner, forbidden to go inside the tent because it’s too small for his wolf form. 

That night, Taeil has finished preparing their baggage for their leave tomorrow. It’s the last day of the full moon and for the next few hours, Johnny would shift back to his human form before the sun rises. Taeil opens the zipper of the tent to peek outside and he sees Johnny sitting at the edge of the cliff, looking at the moon, luminous and beautiful in its own glory.

He was about to greet him a good night, but the big wolf started howling at the moon, in the silence of the night. He retreats back to the tent in his sleeping bag and lulls himself to sleep with the howls, refusing to disturb Johnny.

Taeil wakes up feeling warm and trapped all over his body. He squints and opens his eyes, only to be welcomed by Johnny’s eyes staring back at him, body and face too close on his own. Taeil sees how Johnny doesn’t bother putting clothes on himself, but he doesn’t comment on it.

“Good morning, Johnny.” He greets in a hoarse voice, but with a sleepy smile adorning his face. 

“Thank you for staying through the full moon,” Johnny nuzzles his face on Taeil’s neck, tongue lapping on his skin with little licks.

Taeil laughs at the tickling sensation and pushes Johnny slightly to face him. “Of course. We do this every month, you don’t need to thank me.”

“Still,” Johnny proceeds to plant a kiss on Taeil’s nose. “Thank you for everything.”

Taeil feels the drowsiness wash over him as Johnny continues to pepper kisses all over his face. It’s warm and familiar, the way Johnny shows him gratitude and appreciation. No matter how many times he’d tell Johnny that it’s enough, Johnny won’t stop. He’ll never stop, so he just basks in his warm and comforting presence.

Johnny continues to lick him in his jaw, his neck, and then on his earlobe. It stopped for a little while, and Johnny whispers to him.

“You’re the best master anyone could ever have.”


	16. they did it (glow)

“You look different.” Mark comments just as after Johnny enters the waiting room to get his make-up done.

“Yeah?” Johnny raises his eyebrows at him. “What kind of different?”

“I don’t know, like you’re glowing?”

“Thanks dude.” Johnny huffs out a laugh at the unexpected compliment. “Don’t worry, it’s just me.”

Marks lets out an incredulous laugh and scrunches his face in disgust and awe from Johnny’s never-ending confidence.

“But really,” Donghyuck interjects, “Your visuals are like glowing, hyung.”

Johnny’s laughing comes to a stop. “Now you’re just shitting on me.”

“I literally just complimented you?” Donghyuck lets out an offended gasp. “I’m telling the truth though?”

“Yeah hyung, it’s true.” Jaehyun says. Now he’s blushing and confused, because Jaehyun, the guy with a prince-like visual and Donghyuck, the prankster maknae, is saying the same thing about his looks. He likes attention, with all of his members looking at him in respect and admiration, but not like this where it feels like they’re playing a hidden camera on him.

“Well, got it from my mama.” Johnny shrugs with confidence, just to end the topic right then and there.

But it doesn’t because Jungwoo is a menace.

“Oh my god, oh my god.” Jungwoo covers his open mouth with his palm. He then leans forward to Doyoung to whisper something in his ear, which made Doyoung surprised and look at Johnny with accusing eyes.

“You totally did it.” Doyoung shouts, or more like declares, full of glee and eagerness.

“Did what?”

“No way!” Mark exclaims this time, and suddenly, all of the members are wide-eyed and gasping. Except Taeyong, because Taeyong isn’t here.

“They totally did it.” Taeil chimes in.

“They?”

“You and Taeyong!” Taeil responds with the same enthusiasm as everyone in the room.

Just as Taeil shouted Taeyong’s name, he enters the room with equally confused face as Johnny’s.

“What’s with me and Johnny?” Taeyong asks.

“See?” Yuta interjects with his wide smile. “Taeyong is glowing too!”


	17. you're my fill (regenerated)

Johnny comes home to a very worried Jaehyun waiting for him in their living room. The moment he opened the door, he sees the back of his head sticking out, which quickly turned around at the creaking sound of his entrance.

“You should feed.” Jaehyun stands up from the couch to walk to Johnny and greets him with a concerned voice and a warm hand against the cold skin of his jaw. 

Johnny thinks about how bad he must’ve looked like for Jaehyun to fuss like this. It has been over a week since he fed, the couple being too busy with their respective jobs to even have dinner together. But tonight, it looks like Jaehyun waited for him to get home, already in his pajamas but forgoing sleep.

“Have you had dinner?” Johnny reciprocates Jaehyun’s gestures, his right palm grazing on Jaehyun’s jaw. and then to his neck. His fingers lightly brushes on Jaehyun’s healed bite scars, making him shiver involuntarily. Jaehyun smells so sweet, too good that Johnny aches to sink his fangs on the expanse of his neck, indulging himself of his lover. But he won’t. Not without putting Jaehyun first.

“I cooked, but I waited for you.” 

“Then let’s get you dinner first.” Johnny doesn’t want to, but he lets go of cradling Jaehyun’s face and settles on holding his hand to lead them to the dinner area.

“But you haven’t fed for almost two weeks now.” Johnny abruptly stops as Jaehyun pulls back his arms. Jaehyun can be a bit stubborn, especially now that he feels like its his fault that Johnny is starving.

“Babe.” Jaehyun’s eyes soften at the nickname, along with how Johnny brings his hand back to touch Jaehyun’s face. “I can’t draw blood from you if you’re not feeling well too. I’ll get my fill later, okay?”

Jaehyun resorts into pouting because he knows there’s no use in going against Johnny’s final decision. He hugs him too, feeling sorry about the situation, but Johnny just laughs quietly at how adorable and clingy Jaehyun is when he’s guilty.

“Besides,” Johnny tilts his head to whisper on Jaehyun’s ear. “Coming home to you makes me feel regenerated.”

“Ugh, you’re such an old man.” Jaehyun wheezes at Johnny’s ridiculous line, punching him lightly in his bicep that earned him an exaggerated  _ ow  _ from the vampire.

“You love this old man.” Johnny resorts, smiling at Jaehyun as he finally leads them to the dining table.


	18. broken mug and thinking chairs (shattered)

It’s Johnny’s fault, really.

It’s his honest and horrible mistake, leaving the two kids unattended. The worst part is he left them in the kitchen, probably the most hazardous part of any house on Earth. (Well actually, for kids three and four years old, everywhere is a hazardous place.)

He can feel his heart hammering inside his chest, threatening to come out his ribcage as soon as he heard the clear sound of a glass breaking. It feels as if his whole being is the glass but personified, shattering at the thought of his toddlers hurt. It has been less than a minute since he left them in the kitchen to retrieve Mark’s plushie from the bedroom, only to rush back to the kitchen in less than five seconds.

He sees a broken ceramic on the tiled floor, the brown one that Taeyong uses for his morning coffee. The same one Taeyong used to before he went off to work this morning. The one that he should’ve washed already instead of just placing it on top of the sink. 

But there are some other things that he’s relieved of. One is that there wasn’t a lot of those traitorous teeny tiny debris since it’s a ceramic, and two is that the kids are staying away from it, probably a lesson they are so familiar by now because this is not the first time this has happened.

“Jungwoo! Mark! Why are you kids so naughty?” Johnny’s mouth runs before his mind does, yelling at the kids who are looking like puppies caught teething on rubber slippers. “Which one of you did it?”

Johnny regrets it as soon as he said it, because the two kids are on the verge of crying. This is gonna be a long day.

“Okay, thinking chairs. Now.” Johnny says in a stern voice, prompting the kids to shuffle on their feet, heading to their shared room. Before the kids reach the room, he hears Jungwoo cry.

Johnny knows he isn’t the best parent. He’s clueless on when to reprimand or comfort their children after they make you worry over a broken mug. It’s hard being a parent, let alone a house husband. And he’s pretty sure every parent knows the feeling of whether they’re making the right decisions for the sake of their lovely children. But there is one thing he’s sure of: his kids are the best kids. And it comforts his heart, that even if he isn’t the best dad, he’ll do everything in his power for his children to be the best version of themselves.

Right now, the best version of his kids are crying and sitting obediently on their thinking chairs.

Johnny cleans the kitchen floor meticulously, making sure to not leave any debris of glass behind. He throws it carefully on the waste bin outside, making a mental note of buying another mug for Taeyong.

He proceeds to go to the kid’s bedroom, and the first thing he sees is Mark rubbing small circles on Jungwoo’s back while sitting on their thinking chairs. He could’ve cried right there, but with years of practice, he holds back. He can’t reprimand them while crying with them too.

The kids are alerted by their dad’s presence. Jungwoo, who have stopped crying, starts again by tearing up and yelling “daddy” at the same time. Mark is dejected too, feeling affected by his brother’s crying. Johnny kneels down to their level, goes to grab tissues from the desk beside them, and starts patting Jungwoo’s tears dry while shushing him.

Johnny turns to face Mark. “What happened in the kitchen while I was getting your plushie?”

“Jungwoo knocked off Appa’s mug,” Mark says quietly, but Jungwoo still heard so he started crying again. “He didn’t mean it though!”

“Stop crying, baby.” Johnny gets more tissues and continues to wipe the tears on Jungwoo’s face. “No one is angry okay? I’m just asking Markie.”

“I‘m sorry, Daddy.” Jungwoo whispers as he proceeds to hug Johnny. It’s weak, fitting for a four year old, and he wants to melt because it feels just the same as his husband’s hugs after a long day. Johnny hugs him back, but releases him after a while because he isn’t finished yet.

“I just want you boys to be careful always.” Johnny brings his hands on his sons’ heads to pat them. “You are growing up too fast, and that means you have to be responsible too.”

The kids nod at their daddy’s little speech, and Johnny’s a little proud of how the kids remember what the word “responsibility” means, having Taeyong lecture about it a few days before.

“Will Appa get mad?” Jungwoo says, eyes still on the ground.

“He will be a little sad, but he won’t get mad.” Johnny smiles at the thought of Jungwoo feeling guilty for Taeyong, who isn’t even there. “Just tell him what happened and I’ll buy him a new mug, then he’ll be happy again.”

“Okay,” Jungwoo says, expression a little more brighter. “I love you, daddy.”

“Me too!” Mark interjects with a loud voice. “I love you.”

“”I love you too, boys.” 

Johnny wonders about what he did in his past life to deserve the best family ever.


	19. once and for all (coming home)

"Let's settle this once and for all." Johnny shouts among the commotion of his loud members, currently arguing with each other about having to stay overnight in Johnny's house. They're in the tour bus, huge but cramped as nine members gathered in one area. 

"Why are there only two slots?" Mark resentfully asks Johnny even after their manager explained that it would be too chaotic for all of them to stay the night in the Suh residence, taking Mr. and Mrs. Suh in consideration. "That's so unfair."

"Johnny-ya, Chicago for us isn't Skydeck or Millenium Park, it's your house!" Yuta reasons, and Johnny just laughs at him.

Taeil agrees, "That's how serious this is, Johnny."

He knows how much the members have wanted to go to his hometown, let alone stay in his childhood house. Back then it was just a wish when they were still trainees, even joking about NCT Life in Chicago. Three years later and Neo City in Chicago happened, and this is the closest to NCT Life that they could get in America.

"Guys, we're all gonna have a good time at my house. You're gonna see my childhood bedroom, my embarrassing pictures, you'll even get to hear shameful stories straight from my mom." Johnny explains patiently after the noise slightly dies down. "But I can't do anything if they say we can only have two tonight."

They groaned simultaneously at the final decision.

"I have to stay overnight." Doyoung suddenly declares and it earned him a  _ what the _ from Jaehyun. "Remember that vlive when we talked about Chicago? You promised me that we're gonna drive around."

Johnny remembers of course. Doyoung has been asking him about Chicago even before Neo City started. He's so eager about it that Johnny thinks he probably planned the conversation to be recorded live so he could take his words against him.

"Real men keep their promises!" Doyoung adds, pressuring Johnny into picking him.

"He's bisexual." Jungwoo chimes in, prompting laughter from everyone. Doyoung lets out an annoyed grunt.

"Jungwoo isn't wrong," Johnny says while laughing. "And it's unfair for everyone because all of you have been excited for this, not just you, Doyoung."

"Yeah hyung, you're not that special." Donghyuck snarkily comments and everyone is making fun of Doyoung again.

"This has been unfair ever since," Taeyong speaks in his leader tone, finally. "Let's settle this with the game of rock, paper, scissors."

_ This might be the most intense rock, paper, scissors in the history of NCT 127's rock, paper, scissors _ , Johnny thinks.


End file.
